On the authority of Abu Muhammad al-Hasan bin Ali bin Abi Taib, the grandson of the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and who is dearest to him, radiyallahu anhuma, who said: I committed to memory from the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, (the following words):

Leave that about which you are in doubt for that about which you are in no doubt.

[Al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasaíi related it, and al-Tirmidhi said: It is a good and genuine Hadith]

Hadith 6 – Avoidance of Doubtful Matter

This hadith, include the meaning of hadith 6: Avoidance of doubtful matter. Do you remember the gist of the hadith 6? We did it HERE

Hadith 6 advocates taqwa in avoiding things that are doubtful. Hadith 6 also talks about the heart for when it is good then only the whole body is good. A corrupt heart, will only yield to a corrupt body.

Principle of Worship : Action Upon Certainty

Hadith 11 is about encouragement to adhere to things that are certain – that the heart feels reassured rather than anxiety. This is the principle that is applied by the pious people whose deeds are governed by consciousness of Allah at all times.

Also acting upon certainty serves to defeat the attempts of shaytan at confusing the worshipper with imaginary fears and distracting him from his worship. This is called waswasah and it must be ignored.

Waswasah – Shaytan’s Devilish Insinuations
Waswasah is one of shaytan’s strategies against the Children of Adam. They would whisper to the Muslims in matters of ritual purification like ablution and solah when they intend to perform them. These are among the areas of attack

i. To keep them away from following the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam.

Making them believe that all the teachings in the sunnah are not enough to worship Allah properly. Then people will invent other methods, hoping to increase reward from Allah, while they are in fact reducing or cancelling it altogether.

Prophet sallahu alaihi wasalam used to take wudhu’ and ghusl with very little water. If a person under the influence of shaytan would not be satisfied with little water.

Whoever wants to rid himself from this trial has to believe, with certainty, that the truth is in following the sunnah of the Prophet salllahu alaihi wasalam in both his words and actions has to be on the right path. In essence this should encourage us to seek the true knowledge so that we remain certain of our actions.

ii. Solah
– making one doubt in their number of rakaah
– making them doubt about their niyah of their prayer. So you see some people who make niyah out loud before their takbeer and kept repeating, “usalli” many times. This is an exaggeration of obedience to shaytan and acceptance of his waswasah. Alhamdulillah we don’t make niyah out loud and we are certain about our prayer that niyah’s place is in the heart.
– Remember this hadith
Uthmaan ibn Abi’l-Aas (radi Allahu anhu) came to the Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and said: “The Shaytaan comes between me and my prayer and recitation of Quran, and he is confusing me.” The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “That is a devil called Khinzab. If you notice that, then seek refuge with Allah from him, and spit drily to your left three times.” Uthmaan ibn Abi’l-Aas (radi Allahu anhu) said: “I did that, and Allah took him away from me.” [Muslim]

The people under the influence of waswasah by shaytan are a joy to the khanzab and his companions. We seek refuge in Allah from them.

iii. Purification
– Some people doubt they have thoroughly cleaned themselves. A story as an example of exaggeration of such
– Abu al faraj bin Al juziy reported from Abu Al Wafa’ bin Uqayl that a man said to him: “I dip in water many times, and still doubt whether I have washed properly or not, so what is your opinion?” The sheikh said to him, “Go, for the obligation of solah is withdrawn from you.” He said, “Why do you say so?” The sheikh replied: “Because the Prophet said: “There are three persons whose actions are not recorded: a lunatic whose mind is deranged till he is restored to consciousness, a sleeper till he awakes, and a boy till he reaches puberty. Whoever dips in water many times, yet still has doubt whether he is wet or not, is a lunatic.”
– Ponder this
Zin Al Abidin once said to his som, O son, get me some clothing to wear when I respond to the call of nature: for I have seen flies landing on filth, then touching cloth afterwards. Then he observed that neither the Prophet sallalahu alaihi wasalam nor his companions used to war more than two pieces of clothing, so he cancelled his request.
– The deen is easy. If we follow the sunnah, we won’t be putting hardship on ourselves Insya Allah.
– Also be aware in wasting when taking wudhu’
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said,
“There is a shaytan (devil) for ablution called `walhan’, meaning greedy, avoid the waste of water.”(at Tirmidhee)

iv. Waswasah about breaking wudhu’

For example
i. When one doubts the number of rakaah he has prayed
– If he is not sure whether it is three or four, he takes the lesser number (that is certain) and continued praying and perform sujud sahwi.
ii. If he is confused with the number of tawaf
– Take the lesser number (that is certain) and continue.
iii. Ablution
– Also another worship that shaytan likes to infect the worshiper with suspicions. Many have fallen into this trap. Repeating their wudhu’ and prayers because of suspicions. This is exactly what shaytan wants – that you waste your time because of your suspicions. Waste water and make things difficult on yourself and sometimes others too.
– Doubt is not sufficient to invalidate ablution. This is an important principle.
– When one is uncertain, one must assume that his ablution is still in effect and continue in one’s worship.
– A hadith narrated by Abu Hurayrah aid that the messenger of Allah aid, If any of you have pain in his abdomen, but is doubtful whether or not anything has issued from him, he should not leave the mosque (to make wudhu’) unless he hears a sound or perceives a smell.”
– We must make every effort to defeat the strategies of shaytan.

Knowledge

This shows the importance of knowledge. The knowledge of what invalidates will help us come up with certainty and eliminate problems of being doubtful. The knowledge of the sunnah will help us avoid the bidaah and uncertainty, Insya Allah.

Lessons

In this hadith emphasis on avoidance of waswasah is emphasised. It is important to have great care for the deen, but being excessive in doing things based on suspicions is an indication that one is under the influence of shaytan.
• Shaytan is always looking for ways to lead us astray
• Shaytan also try to put ideas in us and make us doubt our ibadah.
• Making ibadah difficult by being suspicious is among the work of shaytan.
• Among the most common room for attack in purity, abution and solah.
• One way to combat waswasah is knowledge of the sunnah.
• The knowledge of sunnah will help us be certain what is right or excessive in the deen.
• Seek refuge in Allah against waswasah of shaytan.